Can Your Skin-Care Routine Relieve Anxiety?

In a Reddit thread that caught our attention last week, a user posted a story about enduring a rather terrifying flash flood. As the water began to reach the front steps of her porch, she used an interesting technique to keep calm: She thought about the steps of her skin-care routine. And it helped.

"It's tactile, it's regulated, and I just felt so much better afterwards," the user wrote. "I've dealt with generalized anxiety for several years now and never had anyone recommend this kind of routine as a way to reduce stress. But it absolutely works." Soon others began to chime in, saying they, too, go through the steps of their skin-care routines when they're having a stressful day at work or if they're experiencing general anxiety.

They may be onto something. "This sort of ritual is a way to create a sense of control," says Jennifer Wolkin, a psychologist at the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at NYU Langone Medical Center. "Those who do this are decreasing negative thoughts or reducing uncertainty to create an illusion of control."

So, by all means, try thinking through your skin-care steps the next time you're feeling overwhelmed or anxious. Just be careful not to take it too far, as it can also be a sign of something more troublesome. "If you don't know when to stop the ritual or at what point the ritual has fulfilled its purpose, that can become OCD, which is problematic," says Wolkin.